Q: just wondering what to do thanks
A: There is one big problem will all of these answers... (Coming from a professional computer technician) ...The RAM is important, yes, but it is usually the most frequently shouted answer to the "My computer is slow" problem, and that isn't accurate. Your computers speed can be affected by other things, too! Some of which will make more of a difference than getting new RAM! Here is what you need to do: - Step One: RAM Get more RAM. I prefer using www.crucial.com for finding appropriate RAM for your computer. - Step Two: Viral Removal Ensure you have no viruses, spyware or malware. These nasties are a big way to slow your computer down. Get a couple nice programs like "Threatfire", from PC Tools, to throroughly check your computer. www.threatfire.com (And it's free!) - Step Three: Registry Fixes Probably one of the biggest factors in slow-down is software integrity caused by usage and 'software decay'. Like all things, your computer's Operating System gets old and slow from use and needs a nice new pick me up. Small 'pieces' of your system, called Registry keys, sometimes get left over from old, removed programs and left over from viruses that were eradicated, but they still linger around to slow down your computer. Getting a program to fix these is crucial to improving your computer's performance. You can either buy "Registry Mechanic" from those awesome guys who make "Threatfire", PC Tools, or you can get "CCleaner", by Piriform, which is free and works really well. - Step Four: Defragmentation What if you picked up a book, opened the cover, and saw Page One? Normal right? What if when you flipped the page, you saw Page Thirteen? Then Page One-Hundred & Thirty? Page Nine? Page Sixty? It would be pretty hard to read a book like that, wouldn't it? And that's how your computer feels after long periods of use. All of it's files begin to 'fragment', or space out and move, and need to be 'defragmented', or relocated. You can use Windows built in Defrag option, but I prefer using "Defraggler", by Piriform. It's better at defragging than Windows' version, and it's free! www.defraggler.com - Step Five: Windows Security Check Finally, ensure none of your crucial windows files have been damaged or destroyed, from usage and age, by following these steps! Click "Start" > "Run" > Type "cmd" > Hit the ENTER key. In the Black Box that opens: Type "sfc/ scannow" > Hit the ENTER key. This will scan for any Windows Official files that are not intact in their proper intended ways. Afterwords, follow all the steps again to open the Black Box and this time type "sfc/ purgecache" and hit the ENTER key to have the computer fix and remove anything hindering these important files. I know that is a lot of information, but I hope this helps! ~ Brian